Best of CES 2018 A Glimpse of Brilliant, Necessary and/or Totally Crazy Technologies to Come

Best of CES 2018 A Glimpse of Brilliant, Necessary and/or Totally Crazy Technologies to Come

Each January, tech companies and news teams from around the world fly to Las Vegas for that explosion of gadgets known as CES. With nearly 4,000 exhibiting companies, the tech trade show holds too many inventions to share in one place, but we comb through them, looking for the most remarkable examples that shine a light on the innovations that will play a role in our future. Here is that selection, along with videos and news highlights from the week of tech.
By Joanna Stern, Wilson Rothman and Katherine BindleyImage above shows LG's "OLED Canyon" with 246 curved, open-frame TVs. No, you can't buy them for your home. CREDIT: LG Electronics

Published
Jan. 8, 2018

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Video: Smart Cars, Sweet Robots, Scary Wheels: CES 2018 in 2 Minutes

Video: Smart Cars, Sweet Robots, Scary Wheels: CES 2018 in 2 Minutes

An adorable robot dog, a TV that could fill up a wall, a car whose entire dashboard is a touch screen. WSJ's Joanna Stern went on the hunt for the most exciting and unusual products at this year's biggest tech show.

Petrics Smart Pet Bed

Petrics Smart Pet Bed

What it is: A connected bed for pets

If Fido is truly your best friend, shouldn’t he be sleeping on a bed with thermoelectric technology? While this doggy davenport may be overkill, Petrics definitely thought it through. You can make the bed cooler or warmer by adjusting the temperature in its smartphone app. You can tell the app the breed of your dog, and provide some environmental and geographic location, to let the system adjust its temperature automatically. A built-in scale even tracks your dog’s weight and sleep. The bed will range from $100 to $300, depending on which of three sizes you choose, when it becomes available this fall. petrics.com

Somnox Sleep Robot

Somnox Sleep Robot

What it is: A robotic pillow to cuddle with

While experts tend to agree that keeping tech out of the bedroom is a good idea, Somnox wants tech to actually get into bed with you. But instead of keeping you awake, this $550 “robot" is meant to ease you into slumber. Somnox says as you cuddle up with this cyber-pillow it simulates breathing, and your breathing pattern will synchronize with it, supposedly helping your body to relax. (Spooning is soothing, the company says.) For those wary of tech in the bedroom, the robot has no screens or blue lights. It’s not estimated to ship until September.somnox.nl

The Wall by Samsung

The Wall by Samsung

What it is: A massive, modular TV

Ready to turn your entire wall into a TV set? Samsung’s newest set is made up of many smaller panes locked together, each containing an array of super-tiny LED lights. Samsung showed off a 146-inch model, but that’s really just a suggestion, because you can add panels in a modular fashion. These micro-LEDs can be very bright and colorful when lit up, but each pixel can shut off individually to be pitch black as well, giving the display extremely high contrast. (Samsung says it doesn’t currently intend to sell a TV with the competing high-contrast display technology, known as OLED.) The company hasn’t yet priced the Wall, but you can expect it won’t be cheap when it ships in 2018. samsung.com

Colette Technologies Antitheft Purse

Colette Technologies Antitheft Purse

What it is: A tricked-out handbag with a bunch of security features

The specs are like something out of a spy movie: Slash-proof! Quick-release! Biometric lock! Yep, it’s a high-security handbag, the brainchild of Joan Dao, who started developing the purse after her mother was mugged. The crossbody bag prototype has a cut-resistant strap, a GPS chip that reports its position to a cell network, and a panic alarm. Its biometric lock makes it so only the purse’s owner can open it. For those who are safety- and fashion-conscious, there are plans for customizable exteriors. Still, it might not be runway-ready, unless Prada and Gucci start licensing the security tech.colettetech.com

Ella Search by IC Realtime

Ella Search by IC Realtime

What it is: AI-powered video search engine for security cameras

You know the scene in every cop show where they’re scrolling through hours of footage, only to find, say, a white Audi drive past for a split second? Bad news: Those scenes will soon be obsolete. The Ella box filters the video from a surveillance system, picking out moments where things actually happen. After that, the chunks go to the cloud for evaluation from Ella’s deep-learning algorithms. You can then type in, for example, “white" and “Audi" and up pops any instance of it appearing from hours, days, even weeks of footage. Ella is clearly designed for businesses, but its creators say it can scale down for homes with security needs as well. smartella.com

Ossia Cota Forever Battery

Ossia Cota Forever Battery

What it is: Wirelessly charged AA batteries

Today’s wireless charging isn’t exactly wireless: You place your phone on a mat, but that mat is very much plugged into a wall. Ossia’s Cota Forever Battery actually sends power over the air, like Wi-Fi. Install the AA batteries in any device that takes them—remote controls, flashlights, etc.—and plug the Cota base in to a wall. Whenever the device and the base are in the same room, the AA batteries should receive power—no cords, no dongles, no nothing. The bad news? The company is working with partners to license the technology so there’s no telling when or even if it will hit the market. ossia.com

Sony’s New Aibo

Sony’s New Aibo

What it is: An adorable (but expensive) robotic puppy

Confirmed at CES 2018: It is possible to fall in love with a robot, a robotic dog that is. Sony’s Aibo responds to commands (sit, stay, come), whimpers if you don’t pet him and loves a good back or head scratch. He’s so adorable you actually forget that he’s packed with electronics: A camera for a nose, OLED screens for eyes, four microphones, plus sensors embedded throughout his body. He’s just about perfect, until you hear he only available in Japan, lasts two hours on a battery charge and costs over $1,700—plus a monthly service fee.

Dynafocals by PH Technical Labs

Dynafocals by PH Technical Labs

What it is: Automatically adjusting reading glasses

With typical bifocal lenses, wearers tilt their head depending on whether they want to peer towards the horizon or make out tiny text. Dynafocals use a distance-sensing chip to instantly tell how near or far the object of your gaze is. Each lens is made up of a near-, intermediate- and far-focused sections, and a little airbag near the nose pads repositions them as needed. It may be a while before this product makes it to an optician near you, but it’s a great example of recent innovations aimed to benefit tech-savvy older users.phtl.com

DJI Osmo Mobile 2

DJI Osmo Mobile 2

What it is: A high-tech selfie stick

Your smartphone captures great video. Your shaky hands? Not so much. Place your phone—even a larger Plus-sized iPhone or Samsung Galaxy Note—in the Osmo Mobile 2 and your smartphone shots will look silky smooth. The handheld stabilizer is a lot like its predecessor, except it’s now much cheaper and easier to film while your phone is vertical. It also has an improved battery, which can last up to 15 hours on a charge and can even charge the phone directly as well. It will be available next month for $130.dji.com

LG Display Rollable OLED TV

LG Display Rollable OLED TV

What it is: 65-inch TV that rolls up like a poster

Some people want TVs that will cover their whole wall, others want a TV to disappear entirely when not in use. LG Display has realized this latter dream with its rollable 4K OLED. This display technology is inherently thinner and more flexible than the industry-standard LCD TVs, but we’ve never seen OLED quite like this. You can stow it completely, but you can also roll it down part way, if you’re watching a movie with a wider aspect ratio, for instance. For now, this TV is more of a technical demonstration; until LG Display’s parent company or some other tech giant buys in, you won’t be seeing it at your local Best Buy.
lgdisplay.com

NeoBear MagNeo

NeoBear MagNeo

What it is: Augmented-reality virtual magnifying glass

Most AR experiences these days are built around the phone. China-based firm NeoBear dreamed up a different approach: The MagNeo (aka Magnifier Neo) is shaped like a Sherlock Holmes-type magnifying glass. Its face is an LCD touch screen, and on the back there’s a 13-megapixel camera, so you can see the real world augmented with animations and data. There’s also a built-in speaker and microphone. The product is aimed at children: In China, the company sells an accompanying globe that teaches world geography. While the demos we’ve seen are in Chinese, the company says it will have plenty of English-language content when it launches this spring for $299.neo-bear.com

Dell's New XPS 13

Dell's New XPS 13

What it is: A really thin, really light laptop

Dell has made it an annual CES tradition to update our favorite Windows laptop. The XPS 13’s new rose-gold exterior may look like just a fresh paint job. When you open the laptop, though, you can see the specially coated stain-resistant glass Dell engineered so the white interior doesn’t fade to off-white, like old socks. To make the 2.7-pound laptop thinner and smaller, the regular USB ports have been dropped for USB-C ports, and the screen frame has shrunk even more. Along with Intel’s latest processors, the laptop has an optional new 4K display and fingerprint sensor. Dell is promising more than 15 hours of battery life, too. It’s available now starting at $1,000. dell.com

Volo Go Cordless Hairdryer

Volo Go Cordless Hairdryer

What it is: Exactly what it sounds like

Beauty-tech startup Volo’s new hairdryer is cordless, thanks to a built-in lithium-ion battery. The company says in terms of heat and volume, it’s comparable to blow dryers used in salons.The hair tool also uses infrared heat, which the company says is healthier for your locks. It mostly just sounds convenient to dry your hair wherever you want and to not have to find a plug—assuming you can remember to keep it charged. The battery will last only 14 minutes, though spare battery packs will be sold separately. It may be a while before you can get one, because pre-orders are slated for this spring, at an as-yet-undisclosed but “high end" price.volobeauty.com

Despite excitement about self-driving vehicles, a tough road to business success amid struggles over regulation and technology limitations

Byton Concept SUV

Byton Concept SUV

What it is: An electric car with a crazy interior

Terrible voice control, confusing navigation interfaces, bad Bluetooth connections: That pretty much sums up every car infotainment system. Byton’s Concept SUV is meant to change all that. A massive screen stretches across the car's entire dashboard—49 inches—and can be controlled by touch, gesture or built-in Alexa voice control. Cameras on the outside of the driver’s side door use facial recognition to unlock the door for you. When you sit down, up pops your own customized interface. The newly announced electric, semi-autonomous car is expected to be available in China towards the end of 2019, then land in the U.S. in 2020 at a price of $45,000.

Baidu Raven H

Baidu Raven H

What it is: A(nother) smart speaker

You can’t go five steps at CES without seeing a new smart speaker but the Baidu Raven H made us stop for a few reasons. First, instead of the usual, circular-shaped speaker, the Raven consists of eight colored squares, elegantly stacked on each other. Second, the top square, which has a display and microphone, is detachable so you can control the speaker from anywhere in your home. Third, instead of Amazon Alexa or Google’s Assistant, it is powered by the Chinese web giant’s own DuerOS. Yet despite marketing that the Raven is making its “U.S. debut," Baidu says it won’t actually be available in the U.S.

At CES 2018 in Las Vegas, innovators unveil products to make your most private space more high-tech. WSJ's Katherine Bindley checks out voice-activated showers and mirrors with cameras and microphones inside.

Razor Riding Turbo Jetts

Razor Riding Turbo Jetts

What it is: Electric roller skates

Forget electric cars: The electric skates are pulling in right now. Razor’s popular Jetts skates—the ones you’ve seen children using to skate on their heels—have been upgraded with 80-watt electric motors. Yes, it is as terrifying as it sounds. Strap the skates to your sneakers, power them on, press your heel to the ground and you’re off. The skates are capable of hitting 10 miles an hour for 30 minutes of continuous skating. They’ll be available in February for $130.

KikaGo Driving Assistant

KikaGo Driving Assistant

What it is: A voice-powered app and noise-cancellation microphone

This one is for the Android folk: It’s a driving app that lets you control your favorite navigation and messaging apps with your voice. Its maker, Kika—known for a predictive emoji keyboard—is also selling a USB-C charging cable with a noise-cancellation microphone built into the plug. The idea is that it’s better tuned to the noisy car environment than your phone’s own mic. People with iPhone’s may be out of luck: Kika says it won’t have Lightning compatibility until late this year, and when it does, the driving app itself will likely be far less capable than the Android version.
kikatech.com

Lenovo Mirage Solo

Lenovo Mirage Solo

What it is: Phone-free VR/AR headset

You have two virtual-reality headset choices right now: Turn yourself into a marionette tied to a big computer, or strap your phone to your face. Lenovo’s Mirage Solo, on the other hand, is a fully contained headset. Powered by Google’s Daydream platform, the headset contains its own processor, memory, screen, cameras and battery (which Lenovo says lasts seven hours on a charge). It also has advanced head tracking so you can duck when a virtual missile comes flying towards you. Just make sure you don’t slam into anything in the real world. The $400 headset is expected during the second quarter of the year. lenovo.com

Kano Camera Kit

Kano Camera Kit

What it is: Build-it-yourself, code-it-yourself digital camera

Kano changed the game by selling a computer kit that children had to assemble and code before it worked. Now it offers accessory kits to fuel the spirit of invention. The camera kit—still a work in progress—is expected to include a sensor, LED flash ring, function dial, shutter button and clear case, parts you assemble step by step. More magic comes in programming the camera to apply cool filters or shoot animated GIFs, for instance. Since the camera is intended to work with Macs and PCs, you wouldn’t even need a Kano computer. Here’s the wrinkle, though: Kano doesn’t expect to have this on the market until 2019. kano.me